Friday,
February 27, 2015
1st Week of Lent
1st Reading: Ezk 18:21–28
Gospel: Mt 5:20–26s
Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you, then, that if you are not righteous in a much broader way than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to our people in the past: Do not commit murder; anyone who does kill will have to face trial. But now I tell you: whoever gets angry with a brother or sister will have to face trial. Whoever insults a brother or sister deserves to be brought before the council; whoever calls a brother or a sister ‘Fool’ deserves to be thrown into the fire of hell. So, if you are about to offer your gift at the altar and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, go at once and make peace with him, and then come back and offer your gift to God.
“Don’t forget this: be reconciled with your opponent quickly when you are together on the way to court. Otherwise he will turn you over to the judge, who will hand you over to the police, who will put you in jail. There you will stay, until you have paid the last penny.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Most Rabbinic schools in the time of Jesus followed the “But I say to you” method in teaching their students. The Rabbi would first present a biblical text followed by some wrong interpretations. The Rabbi would then end by giving the proper interpretation. In using the same formula Jesus exercised his authority as teacher just like any Rabbi of his time.
But Jesus did more. Ordinary Rabbis went lateral and flagged down anybody going beyond recognized boundaries. Jesus went spiral instead, digging deeper into the meaning of Scriptures in relation to the Father’s Holy Will. Because he went deeper into the meaning of Scriptures, his interpretations appeared more relevant. In today’s Gospel reading, for example, he taught in effect that the teaching about murder is still relevant to non-murderers because anger, insult and name-calling could kill a person. Because he went deeper into the meaning of Scriptures his interpretations tended to be more exacting. Thus in regard to worship he showed followers how unjust it was to seek closeness with God while neglecting their relationship with others.
It appeared then that although Jesus used basically the same formula of the Rabbis of his times, he had something more to teach, a more challenging teaching to impart and a bigger call to spirituality to make. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
May comment ka ba sa column ni Father Dan? May tanong ka ba sa kanya? I-type ang BANDERA REACT <message/name/age/address> at i-send sa 4467.